By the time the fighting had finally concluded, Gerhard had levelled up four times and reached level 46. Not bad, but not really good either. But he didn't really bother about his levels anymore. He had roughly 200 status points to spend in an emergency, but otherwise, he was doing rather well.
Behind what had been the Herald's throne of cancerous amalgamations sat a massive, rusted bulkhead. Gerhard, who had been looking for this, used his [Observe] skill, which made his heart skip a beat.
"Hans, cut that door open," Gerhard ordered.
Hans and the Kastelan Golem, who had stood with Sera and mowed down the Chaos Cultists from the back and sides, walked forward and did as Gerhard asked.
Behind the door lay a sight that made even Lencillus pause.
"Is that..."
[Observe]
[Land Raider Phobos – Rank: Novice (Damaged)]
| A Standard Template Construct heavy armoured transport used by the Adeptus Astartes.
| Built from layered ceramite, plasteel, and adamantium composites, it is one of the most resilient vehicles in the Imperium.
| This unit has sustained heavy damage but remains operational if you're a chaos cultist at least.
---
- Durability: 270/10,000
- Armour Class: Heavy Armoured Transport
---
Defensive Effects:
| +100% Low-Class Physical Resistance
| +70% Mid-Class Physical Resistance
| +100% Low-Class Energy Resistance
| +65% Mid-Class Energy Resistance
| +50% Low-Class Shockwave Resistance
---
Armour:
Composite Ceramite-Adamantium Hull
| Multi-layer bonded armour system
| Highly resistant to las, plasma, and explosive weapons
---
Weapons:
2x Twin-Linked Lascannons
| Heavy anti-armour
Hull-Mounted Twin-Linked Heavy Bolter
| Anti-infantry
Optional Pintle Storm Bolter
| Secondary fire
---
Mobility:
Thermic Combustor Engine
| Max Speed: 55 km/h (on road)
| Reduced performance due to damage
---
Transport Capacity:
Either:
| 10 Space Marines
| 5 Terminators
---
Special Effects:
Machine Spirit (Cyclops – corrupted)
| Limited autonomous control
| Reduced targeting efficiency
Hermetic Seal
| Fully sealed environment
| Can operate in vacuum, underwater, and toxic zones
---
Damaged Systems:
| Reduced targeting precision
| Reduced engine output
| Slower response time
Limitations:
Severely Reduced Cogitator Performance
| Command and coordination systems are impaired
Sensor Instability
| Detection systems are unreliable
Sluggish Response
| Delayed weapon and movement response
-
The Land Raider Phobos' hull was covered in thick, pulsating Warp-veins and cancerous plants. Beside it lay the second huge find: the Sanctioner Pattern Automaton, a rare Enforcer-grade robot, whose logic cores were now screaming with Daemonic code.
"These are tainted," Lencillus warned, raising his spear. "We must destroy them."
"No," Gerhard said, walking forward. "Don't you dare destroy such valuable resources. At least not while I'm here."
"Don't!"
Hestia held back Gerhard and shook her head. But he merely smiled at her, thankful that she seemed to care enough to stop him from approaching the gurgling machines.
"Observe," he said and placed his hands on the rusted, pulsing metal of the Land Raider.
[Remove Curse]
One of Gerhard's most ridiculous and useful skills was cast. A brilliant, cleansing blue light emitted from Gerhard's hands. The Gamer System identified the Daemonic possession as a "Debuff," and didn't care about the type of curse, only that it was a stronger one.
[Remove Curse]
[Remove Curse]
[Remove Curse has levelled up]
[Remove Curse]
[Remove Curse]
[Remove Curse]
[Remove Curse]
[Remove Curse has levelled up]
Finally, Warp-veins shrivelled and blackened, falling off the tank like dead scabs. The original gunmetal and silver of the Land Raider began to shine beneath the grime, and the metal was slowly infused with Gerhard's Mana.
[Remove Curse]
[Remove Curse]
[Remove Curse]
[Curse Removed|
[Status: Purified]
Nodding, Gerhard moved to the Sanctioner Automaton. The machine's red optical sensors flickered as it tried to attack Gerhard, but Hestia was faster, stabbing it with her Executioner Blade, causing it to screech.
[Remove Curse]
[Remove Curse]
[Remove Curse]
...
[Remove Curse has levelled up]
After several times of casting the skill, the cursed living rot turned to a steady, pleasing blue as the chaos-possession was purged.
[Curse Removed: Sanctioner Pattern Automaton]
[Status: Purified]
"Hans, they're ours," Gerhard grinned. He touched both of the massive pieces of machinery, and they vanished into thin air.
> Congratulations, Master. Project: War Machines can now finally be started.
"Indeed. The Orks are going to weep when they see what we're coming with next month."
Lencillus looked at the empty space, then at Gerhard. He and the Sisters of Silence were flabbergasted at what they had just witnessed. Gerhard had just removed a rather powerful Chaos curse and purified two machines from possession.
He had weaponised his Mana, his Blank state, and a skill to return a demonic entity to its previous state. This was not only impossible... it was inconceivable. It went against the order of things. If anything, this is something the Emperor could do, but not without damaging the original equipment...
Not like this.
"You... you simply removed the chaos curse and then put a heavy battle tank in your... pocket."
"It's a very big pocket," Gerhard replied, looking at Hestia. She was watching him, her fingers twitching in a tiny, almost invisible Thoughtmark.
'Unbelievable,' she signed.
"Get used to it," Gerhard said, grinning at her. "We're just getting started."
> He is not joking. We're just getting started.
Lencillus waited and watched Gerhard walk through the battlefield, talking with Sera Vahl. He turned to the Tech Priest with interest.
"What does this mean, Magos?"
> Oh, well, Master Gerhard has expressed interest in using the fights against the Orks as a way to test himself and make use of their technology to arm ourselves. Basically, he uses their ingenuity and unpredictable nature as a whetstone.
'That's reckless,' Hestia signed.
"It is utterly reckless, indeed. And dangerous."
> Oh, you would be correct, if this wasn't Master Gerhard we were talking about. Gerhard never does anything without as many backup plans as possible to deal with unforeseen circumstances.
"Then what will the Land Raider and the Sanctioner be used for? He doesn't research Abominable Intelligence, does he?"
Hans turned and looked at Lencillus, who seemed dead serious. He had acted like a Tech Priest would, believing that Gerhard was the Omnissiah and that everyone had accepted it. No one could have thought that Gerhard hadn't only recovered a Man of Iron AI, but also given it an artificial soul.
> The Land Raider, as you know it at this moment, will be transformed into an all-terrain, omnisituational battle station. One whom you have never seen, a former member of the venerable Adeptus Custodes. It will be placed among and even rise above the known Lord of Wars. When we're done with it, it will need another designation.
For some reason, Lencillus more than believed that. Having witnessed Gerhard's genius and mind-boggling capabilities to create matter out of thin air... that was too ridiculous. So he was almost looking forward to what he would surprise everyone with.
.
.
Gerhard's workshop had turned into a graveyard of cleanliness and logic. Cables the thickness of a Terminator's thigh snaked across the floor, hooked into humming Mana capacitors and electrical translators that released blue sparks into the air.
In the centre of the room, Gerhard used Psychokinesis to suspend a three-meter ring of Liquid-Ceramite magnets in mid-air. They hung in a perfect, glowing circle, vibrating with a low, Mana-hum that made the teeth of everyone in the room ache, for some reason, and the temperature rose.
At the focal point of this makeshift collider, Gerhard placed a shard of pristine Mana-infused Glass Prism. It wasn't just a conventional lens; it was an energy filter and amplifier, a diamond-hard prism designed to multiply the raw energy and redirect it into a special object in the middle of the circle.
Gerhard slammed his hand onto the main console, his eyes reflecting the rising azure glow. He moved to the computer and opened a special hatch he had installed for this very moment. He entered a special key and deactivated all the safety measures, allowing more Mana and energy to flow than was safe.
"Hans, suppress the safety protocols! I need 200% output!"
> Master, the structural integrity of the sub-level material is at risk! The enhanced stabilisers are failing!
"Ignore it! I'm not losing the frequency! I don't want to waste any more resources on this."
Behind Gerhard, the Sisters of Silence, Lencillus, and Sera Vahl wore special goggles as they observed the mess before them. It was the height of ridiculousness, and while Gerhard had told them that this would take a while and they should look for something else to do, they hadn't left.
For the better part of two months, inside his time-dilation dungeon, Gerhard had calculated, theorised, and rewritten equations, finally achieving what he wanted.
He had exited the instant dungeon and started building this. No one knew what it was, only that it had to do with energy.
.
> Initialising Prismatic Accelerator
A beam of immense Mana erupted from his Reactor. It slammed into the energy converter, flowed into the cable ring, and was caught in the magnetic grip of the liquid ceramite.
There, it began to circulate, accelerating with a shriek that drowned out the sirens, telling Gerhard that it was way past safe.
The beam became a blurring halo of electrical white and blue, the centrifugal force so immense that the stone floor beneath it began to spiderweb, crack and even melt. Scrap metal and discarded tools were sucked into the wake, flying like shrapnel against the reinforced walls.
Gerhard stepped directly into the path of the venting heat, the air around him shimmering at thousands of degrees. He also wore a specially designed set of goggles to avoid distractions.
His skin reddened as the sheer radiance of the collider tried to peel the meat from his bones. But his Gamer's Body and resistance levels up passively, as he worked.
He grabbed a massive, crude steering lever, his muscles bulging and enhanced with [Mana Reinforcement].
He heaved the lever.
The magnetic ring tilted. The swirling halo of mana banked sharply as it was forced into the Glass prism.
The collision was blinding. The beam seemed to be purified. The jagged, violent blue lightning of the raw mana was compressed, filtered, and stabilised. It emerged from the other side of the glass prism, shooting out like a laser.
Gerhard leaned into the pressure, guiding the laser of Mana toward a waiting vessel made of the most powerful, highly conductive materials. It was a mixture of Adamantium-Silica, polymorphic alloy and Spirit Stones. Lots and lots of Spirit Stones.
The moment the laser touched the triangle-shaped vessel, the air seemed to buckle. The vessel sucked in the energy without spilling a single thing, akin to a black hole.
Gerhard fed his Mana into the contraction without stopping, wanting to push past the limits. And then, having achieved it, Gerhard turned everything off before it could explode.
BRRROOOOOMMMM---
A kinetic shockwave reverberated through the lab. A physical wall of pressure that knocked the Sisters of Silence off their feet and sent Hans skidding across the floor in a shower of sparks. Even Lencillus was affected, but he stood in front of Sera to protect her from any harm.
The collider died. The suspended magnets fell to the floor with a heavy clatter.
...
...
Gerhard stepped forward and grabbed the small triangular vessel with Psychokinesis, as the energy output was enormous, but soon felt that it wouldn't harm him, as it was his Mana after all. Hans stepped forward, observing the new energy source and the millions of calculations that flashed through his core.
> Congratulations, Master. You have essentially created an endless energy source. You have cheated the Gamer system and created an external Mana battery...
-
[Prismatic Mana Reactor – Rank: Legendary]
| A stabilised Mana fission reactor created by Gerhard the Gamer.
| By forcing Mana into a continuous prismatic compression cycle, this core generates a self-sustaining chain reaction, producing effectively limitless energy.
-
Energy Output: 25,000 MP/min (base)
Peak Output: 100,000+ MP/min (Overdrive)
Capacity: 10,000,000+ (Continuous Generation - Medium speed)
Stability: Absolute (Self-Regulating)
-
Special Effects:
Mana Fission Core
| Converts Mana into a continuous chain reaction
| Generates energy instead of consuming it
Infinite Energy Loop
| Energy output sustains itself
| No depletion under normal operation
Singularity Compression Field
| +1000% energy density
| Allows extreme output in compact form
Adaptive Output Regulation
| Automatically scales output to demand
| No energy overflow or waste
Energy Conversion System
Instantly converts energy into:
| Mana
| electrical output
| thermal energy
| kinetic energy
| potential energy
Overdrive Cataclysm Mode
| Unlocks full reactor output
| +300% energy output
| Extreme environmental stress
System Amplification Field
| Boosts all connected systems:
| +125% weapon efficiency
| +150% shield strength
| +90% system performance
Core Resonance
| Synchronises with Gerhard's Mana
| Increases regeneration and output efficiency
Absolute Conduction Network
| Zero energy loss
| Supports unlimited simultaneous systems
-
"Hehe, we've reached the big leagues now, Hans. Now, we can finally start improving the Land Raider."
> Indeed. I think the Orks will be very happy about our next visit. I wonder if what you have planned could stand against one of their stompas.
"Pfft, stompas. If they don't bring a Gargant, it won't be any fun."
> At this rate, you will get the honorary Ork title.
"You know, that would probably only help us in the long run. Can you imagine the buffs we would get then?"
> I suppose you would get special privileges and also be hunted by the Ordo Xenos.